The Dispersal of the Cotton Collection

About the Project

Project description:

The University of Birmingham and the British Library are pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded Collaborative Doctoral Studentship from 1 October 2026 under the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership Scheme.

The Cotton collection has been described by one scholar as ‘arguably the most important collection of manuscripts ever assembled in Britain by a private individual’ (Wright, 1997). Created by Sir Robert Cotton (d. 1631) and his immediate successors, the library comprises more than 2,000 medieval and early modern manuscripts, charters and rolls, including many items of national and international heritage significance, such as Magna Carta, Beowulf, the Lindisfarne Gospels, and the correspondence of British monarchs. It is the first library to be gifted to the nation (1702), a foundation collection of the British Museum Library (1753), and is inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World UK Register. During the collection’s formative years (c. 1588-1702), before being acquired by the nation, many manuscripts were dispersed from the library, for reasons that are often unclear. This project will analyse the Cotton family’s collecting priorities and ambitions for the library and investigate why they may have been willing to alienate specific items.

This project will be jointly supervised Dr Noah Millstone and Dr Imogen Peck at the University of Birmingham and by Julian Harrison and Dr Andrea Clarke at the British Library. The student will spend time with both the University of Birmingham and the British Library and will become part of the wider cohort of AHRC CDP funded PhD students across the UK.

The University of Birmingham and the British Library are keen to encourage applications from a diverse range of people, from different backgrounds and career stages, and particularly welcome those currently underrepresented in doctoral student cohorts.

The Research Project

This studentship will focus on the formation and use of the collection by Sir Robert Cotton, his successors, and the wider circles of users attracted by the library. It builds on earlier studies of the Cottonian Library, particularly Dr Colin Tite’s efforts to identify Cottonian material now elsewhere, and the practices of loan, exchange and loss that to the dispersal. One outcome of this studentship may be the identification of other manuscripts that were once in the Cotton collection but are now found in other British Library collections, or at other institutions, using evidence such as inscriptions, book-bindings, and early catalogues and lending lists.

Beyond bibliographic work, understanding the practices of use, circulation, loan, exchange and other forms of dispersal requires understanding the shifting role of the Cottonian library over the seventeenth century. Potential avenues of research include:

• Understanding the choices animating the formation and preservation of the collection, from Robert Cotton’s initial acquisitions to the choices made at moments of generational turnover around preserving ‘the Cotton Library’ as an independent institution, to the choices around disposing of particular items.
• Reconstructing the networks of users – local, national and international – that sought access to the library: who sought to use the library, how that use was negotiated, what materials they wished to examine and how those examinations were done.
• Tracking the changing political importance of the library from its late Elizabethan origins, through the crises of the 1620s, the Civil War, the Exclusion Crisis, and the first age of partisan politics
• Evaluating the role of the library and its collections of materials in seventeenth-century scholarly culture, from the antiquarian efforts of the Elizabethan ‘Society of Antiquaries’ to the foundation of the new ‘Society of Antiquaries’ in the early eighteenth century.

Benefits and Opportunities

The successful candidate will be registered with the Department of History at the University of Birmingham. The student will become a member of the Early Modern Research Centre, 1450-1850 – a large and thriving interdisciplinary research centre with a strong cohort of PGRs and early career scholars.

At the British Library, the student will become part of a vibrant cohort of collaborative doctoral researchers and benefit from staff-level access to the Library’s collections, resources and in-house training and development opportunities.

Eligibility criteria

This studentship is open to both Home and International applicants.

To be classed as a Home student, candidates must meet the following criteria:

• Be a UK National (meeting residency requirements), or
• Have settled status, or
• Have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or
• Have indefinite leave to remain in or enter.

Further guidance can be found here based on revisions to Training Grant Terms and Conditions for projects starting in October 2025.

Applicant Information

Applicants should have or expect to receive a Masters-level qualification in a relevant discipline or equivalent experience in a professional setting. Equivalent experience might include, but is not restricted to, a strong track record of employment in a library, museum, or heritage institution, that includes responsibility for relevant archival research, collections curation, and/or public engagement activity.

Collaborative doctoral students are expected to spend time at both the University and the British Library.

Applicants must satisfy the standard UKRI eligibility criteria. For further information please see:

https://www.ukri.org/funding/information-for-award-holders/grant-terms-and-conditions/

How to apply:

Prospective applicants are required to apply by sending in:

• A cover letter (this should set out your reasons for applying for the scholarship and why you are suited to the research proposed)
• A CV (include the names and contact details of two referees at the end of the CV)
• Research proposal as outlined above
• Transcript of grades
• A writing sample of no more than 12,000 words; this should represent your best efforts at historical research and original thinking.

These documents should be sent to: calscholarshipprizes@contacts.bham.ac.uk by 10 May 2026.

Following shortlisting, interviews will be held. It is anticipated that these will be on 2 June 2026. We will ask for reference from the referees nominated by shortlisted candidates.

We ask all applicants to complete a voluntary EDI monitoring form. All responses are anonymous.

Funding Notes

AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership with the University of Birmingham and The British Library

Funding for: 4-year studentship full time equivalent

Funding amount: Full-time home UKRI rate tuition fees (£5,238 for 2026/27); and a full UKRI maintenance stipend (£21,805 for 2026/27), with additional partial London allowance of £1000/year, and a further £600/year CDP Maintenance Payment. There is also an additional £1000 per financial year research allowance courtesy of The British Library, and opportunities to apply for more research funding as necessary. Note that the University of Birmingham will waive the fee difference between home and overseas tuition fees.